Austin Healey makes £1 rugby bet with 'every person in Wales'

Austin Healey has already been paid £1 by former Wales player Rupert Moon Credit: Twitter / @IamAustinHealey

Former rugby player Austin Healey is facing a spiralling bill after he offered the entire Welsh population a £1 bet that England would win the Six Nations.

Wales face their great rivals, for whom Healey played 51 times, in tomorrow's tournament decider in Cardiff.

Healey is so confident England will prevail that he made the audacious wager on Twitter:

His Welsh followers quickly rose to the challenge, including former Strictly Come Dancing judge Arlene Phillips, who lives in Wales:

Within three days, Healey faced a £1,708 bill from one website alone, with Wales Online encouraging its readers to take the bet.

By Friday, he owed Welsh people who had signed up to the site's Facebook page more than £2,000.

Healey appears undeterred, already posting a photo of former Wales rugby player Rupert Moon "paying in advance" for the bet:

Despite the rising stakes, the odds are in Healey's favour.

Bookmakers have England 1/3 favourites to win the tournament, while Wales are 3/1 against.

Wales need to beat England by at least seven points to leapfrog them in the Six Nations table and retain their title.